Front Desk Manager

My wife and I are currently staying in the Royal Vista. We booked a 1BR deluxe for 154000points. When we checked in, we good a 1BR pointsaver unit, which is worth 140000points. These units have obstructed views, other than that it is the same unit. When asked about the difference, a very rude front desk manager told us the resort is full, nothing will be changed and nothing else will happen - do we want the unit or not? I understand that as a non-VIP, we cannot request a special unit, but is Wyndham not obligated to get us what we paid for? Could they move us from 2BR to 1BR? Who would be the right person to talk to? Do they not, at the very least, have to refund the 14000points?

Please describe your Front Desk manager. I know the REAL Royal Vista front desk manager - you might NOT be talking to the correct person.

We checked in at 9:55pm. The night auditor just took over. She called the person who said "she runs the front desk" - her first name was Colleen. I have written down the last name upstairs - I would have to look it up.

Colleen is the correct person. You did check in later than almost all the other guests. And the front desk clerks (the Front End manager might know more) do not deal in point values - a 1bdr is a 1bdr.

The different in points between 1bdr units is less than $100 if your MFs are around the $7 per 1,000 points.

A points saver unit does NOT mean - a non-ocean view unit. Royal Vista's point chart was done YEARS before Fairfield got the idea to charge WAY more points for the better view. I know, I have sat/sleep/ate in the street side units way MORE than ever with a sliver view of the ocean. As for an getting an Oceanfront unit - ONCE - but it was a 2/2 unit - the very FIRST time I was there (10+ years ago) ... I use that picture as my TUG Avatar picture. And I own a LOT of RV points and pay a lot of MFs for having an oceanfront resort.

Managing a resort with the 100% occupancy like Royal Vista is extremely hard. There are NEVER any empty units, not moving multi-week guests is done to get turnover days finished before people are sleeping in the lobby, units do have issues and need repairs ... and almost everyone BEGS for an oceanfront unit. It is the rare person who says, "Great a street view; no early AM sunrise for me!!! I am so happy!"

So then what is the difference between point saver and regular to know if the OP should be asking to have the points refunded and/or a move if possible?

If it truly is a street view worth 154,000 then it is what it is.

Point saver units have either less square footage or only 1 bathroom ... in my experience at Royal Vista. Street view does NOT count - you might be able to see the intercoastal waterway on the street side of the building.

The Member Directory refers to Point Saver units in very small print as having "obstructed views".

Really, if this is your dream vacation and you wanted to see and hear the ocean from your unit... I can truly understand.

The unit is not the issue. It is about the points. If I have 14000 points less, Wyndham will not let me make any reservation. The fact that the value of the point difference is less than $100 does not matter. If I owe Wyndham less than $100, they still expect me to pay. The next time will they simply cancel a reservation? Or move us from a 2BR to a 1BR, because the difference is only $500? (or whatever the actual value) In addition, all this was done without any form of communication. We caught it when we checked in.

If it is about the points, call "Owner Care" at the 1-800 number for Wyndham.

The resort staff can NOT adjust points in your account AND you would not want them to either.

astein said:

The unit is not the issue. It is about the points. If I have 14000 points less, Wyndham will not let me make any reservation. The fact that the value of the point difference is less than $100 does not matter. If I owe Wyndham less than $100, they still expect me to pay. The next time will they simply cancel a reservation? Or move us from a 2BR to a 1BR, because the difference is only $500? (or whatever the actual value) In addition, all this was done without any form of communication. We caught it when we checked in.

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My point is that you may not be in a point saver room just because of the obstructed view especially if you say it is identical to the other room other than the view. I would call owner services and if you are then you are definitely entitled to the points back. Just because the points saver units all have obstructed views, it doesn't mean that some of the regular deluxe units also aren't obstructed views. You should also complain that you were down graded without any notice and ask if there is any additional compensation that you could have.

Point Saver refers to specific
units with obstructed view

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You need to ask if the unit number you have is considered a point saver unit or alternatively which units are point savers.

I know what the chart says, but I was told that not all of the 154,000 point units at Royal Vista have an ocean view. This is according to the person we spoke to at the front desk when we visited in January. We weren't staying there. We just stopped in to take a look around. I don't know if this is 100% correct or not. She gave us a room chart and highlighted the rooms that had the view, which I somehow lost by the time we got home. Not sure it would have done us much good as we're not VIP and can't technically request specific rooms anyway.

When we checked in, we had to sign the form that had all the information (check-in, check-out, etc). It clearly said under "unit": 1 BR Deluxe Pointsaver. So it is in writing that this is a pointsaver unit. Even front desk personnel sees that difference.

Since you have it in writing you should at the very least get the 14,000 points returned to your account but you’ll need to call owner care to do that. As to how it happened, it’s primarily due to your late arrival. Likely an earlier guest got your room either by mistake or because they complained about their assigned unit and got it changed. Wyndham does not assign you to smaller units than what you pay for but front desk personnel do make mistakes and some people complain in order to get more than they paid for. For this reason, I always try to avoid a late arrival. I have no doubt that owner care will make good on the return of your points and with some luck the resort may also give you some compensation because it appears to have been their mistake.

Make sure you post your experience in a Tug review, on tripadvisor, yelp and anywhere else people will look for reviews on this place.

Is this typical how this company treat their owners & guests.

It sounds like someone gave your condo to someone who asked for a 'better' condo and gave you the leftovers. If you paid for it "in points" you should get what you paid for otherwise you were cheated. Call customer care and see if anyone at Wyndham really cares about customers...

This is the downside of having multiple point values for similar unit sizes. But it should prevent the problem like at oceanwalk where you are guaranteed an ocean front room. A huge lost of points being used there for that.

I was at RV last week and had a waterway view. It was just a regular 2 bedroom but not sure what we actually got.

If people have split reservations and do not want to move it would cause the situation you are in.

astein said:

When we checked in, we had to sign the form that had all the information (check-in, check-out, etc). It clearly said under "unit": 1 BR Deluxe Pointsaver. So it is in writing that this is a pointsaver unit. Even front desk personnel sees that difference.

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In that case I would definitely make a complaint. It's not right that you didn't get the unit you reserved. At the very minimum they owe you the point difference (although, that often doesn't do any good for many owners who may not have a way to use that small number of points unless they can be carried forward.)

CruiseGuy said:

In that case I would definitely make a complaint. It's not right that you didn't get the unit you reserved. At the very minimum they owe you the point difference (although, that often doesn't do any good for many owners who may not have a way to use that small number of points unless they can be carried forward.)

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Due to the inconvenience factor and not getting what you "paid" for, it may be worth asking to have the points refunded as "bonus points" with a 2-year life.

Before anyone gets the hair on the back of their neck up ... this resort is one of the MOST HIGH demand locations within Wyndham. There are ONLY 93 one and two bedroom units. It is booked 100% about 95% of time. It has GUESTS who book 4-6-8-10 weeks in a row at this time of the year (Snowbird season). It has a huge elderly population in residence during this time of the year. It has an extremely HIGH percentage of deeded points owners staying at this resort during this time of the year (have to be an owner to booked during ARP) from Christmas thru Easter .. there is NOTHING left at the 10 months mark. Royal Vista has a very large Platinum owner population in the winter... which is how they get to request and put "DO NO MOVE" on the their room, the choice units. And who get an extra 2 hours for late check out and get an extra 2 hours for early check in at 2PM.

astein .... sorry, you check in at a later hour than when the front desk supervisor was working. She most likely had put in a 11+ hour checkin day and had gone home (if she even was home yet). I know your less than $100 value of points seems to be an issue ... but final room assignments are handled at the resort level. The resort has to manage the resources to keep the place running .. that is the turnover staff, the physical condition of units on the fly and current guests in residence.

As I suggested, call OWNER CARE on the 1-800 reservation line. You got your answer as to being moved ... there is NOWHERES to put you as there are no empty units. Period.

PS Wyndham Santa Barbara across the street suffered a water main break between Christmas and NYE ... that resort has 90 units ... and some of those guests got their stays transfer to Palm Aire or a local hotel room. I know I got a crying client who swore they were given a unit overlooking an alley with a evergreen tree leaning into their balcony instead of a unit overlooking the pool. There is NO ALLEY near Santa Barbara .... over an hour back & forth on phone with them and their front desk supervisor ... they were walked to a unit 3 floors higher (no evergreen tree) ... their other option was Palm Aire or a hotel room.